


protected

by anattemptatwordbending



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, irl fic but its still the characters not the people, sbi, tommy just wants to be safe, v soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:53:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29188857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anattemptatwordbending/pseuds/anattemptatwordbending
Summary: Since he could remember, Tommy had wanted to be protected.
Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 28
Kudos: 718





	protected

**Author's Note:**

> another fic, brought to you by me crying listening to sleeping at last

Since he could remember, Tommy had wanted to be protected.

He’d daydreamed constantly about a strong knight coming to rescue him, a huge leopard circling him and growling at whoever came too close, a powerful wizard taking him in; whatever his mind could come up with.

But he’d grown up, and he’d given up on feeling safe. House after house, yelling and hitting and anger and disappointment. The stories were fake. Knights and wizards weren’t real. No one was going to save him. 

Sometimes, though, he would still curl up very small and close his eyes and pretend someone was there. He knew it was pathetic, and childish, and stupid. No amount of imagination was going to make him less alone. But he needed to believe it was possible.

~~~

It was a few weeks into staying with Phil. He hadn’t gotten angry. Not yet. That didn’t mean much on its own, some of them were fine at first, only got violent later. But Phil seemed different. Tommy didn’t know why. And he refused to get his hopes up. 

He had a nightmare. A bad one. And he woke up with a loud cry.

 _No no no no no._ He gasped for air through tears, holding his hands over his face. Phantom blood trickled down his leg, and he wanted to claw at his skin, _get away, get away, get away, it hurts._ He tried to keep his sobs quiet, but he couldn’t, they ripped out of him and left him empty and lifeless and afraid. 

He could see a figure in the door, and usually he’d be scared. If he was in his right mind, he would’ve flinched back, covered his head, pleaded for forgiveness. But everything was fuzzy and terrifying, and the man almost seemed like a guardian angel. Showing up to protect him.

He slowly sat beside Tommy, and Tommy pressed himself against him, logical thought gone, the stupidest thing he could’ve done. But the man didn’t throw him off. He just carefully brought his hand down on Tommy’s hair and held him close. 

“I’m scared,” Tommy’s words stumbled out of his mouth. He wouldn’t have talked if he’d been thinking. If he hadn’t felt like everything wasn’t real. “I don’t wanna be hurt again. I don’t, I don’t.”

“You’re safe, Tommy.” The voice sounded like it was coming through water, but it was soft, and steady. “No one will hurt you here.”

“Don’t wanna be, don’t wanna be,” Tommy mumbled feverishly. “Please don’t let them hurt me.”

“I won’t.”

Tommy only foggily remembered it in the morning, and he was pretty sure it was a dream.

~~~

Tommy had tried to cover his bruises. He’d put on a long sleeved hoodie, walked through the room with his head down. Wilbur had been the only one home, but he couldn’t let him see that he’d fucked up. That he’d gotten in a fight, after his new family being so kind. What if he was disappointed in him? What if he got angry? 

He hadn’t had a choice. _They’d_ come for _him._ But no one had ever cared about that.

“Are you okay, Tommy?” Wilbur asked from the couch. Tommy cringed, stopping.

“Y-yeah, big man,” he said. “Just gotta go get started on my homework, you know how it is.”

“Why are you looking down?” Tommy’s heart dropped. 

“No reason.”

Footsteps, and then a soft hand on Tommy’s shoulder. He tensed, and Wilbur took his hand away quickly. “Can you look at me?”

Shit, shit shit. He couldn’t just say no. Wilbur was gonna be so upset with him. Tommy looked up at Wilbur, biting his lip. He knew he looked like a mess. Probably had a black eye, a bloody nose. Wilbur’s eyes widened.

“Wh-- Tommy, _what happened?”_

He could hear the anger prickling around Wilbur’s words, and he tried not to shiver.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, not making eye contact. “I-- I got in a fight. I’m really sorry.” He didn’t even know if it counted as a fight. Three against one, and it had mostly just been Tommy stuck on the floor in the corner. He’d landed a few punches, though.

Wilbur stepped forward, and then seemed to think better of it and stepped back. “Let me get you-- I’ll get you ice. Can you wash the blood off?”

Tommy nodded silently and followed Wilbur into the kitchen. It was at least a short delay of the anger. He washed his face and hands, ignoring the stinging. He’d done this plenty of times before.

“What-- how’d you get into the fight?” Wilbur asked, his voice a forced calm that made Tommy’s hands shake. But people didn’t usually ask how. They just assumed he’d started it, ‘cause he was the stupid, loud, new kid.

“I-- I was being annoying,” he said carefully. “And I pissed these four guys off-- I mean, I don’t really think it was fair for them all to go after me. Or maybe it was, I don’t know. But yeah, they got me into a corner. And I fought back but it was kind of useless.” He didn’t mention the helpless, pathetic tears, or the run home shaking and stumbling.

“Fuck them,” Wilbur said, and Tommy almost startled with the surprise of it. Wilbur passed Tommy the ice packs and gestured to the living room.

“Fuck them so much,” Wilbur repeated once they’d sat down. He levelled Tommy with a strong stare. “If they get near you again, you tell me or Techno,” he said seriously. “I won’t let them hurt you again. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

Tommy fidgeted with the ice. “You’re not… mad?”

“Of course I’m mad! I’m angry as hell!” Tommy flinched, and Wilbur’s eyes widened. “No, no, I’m sorry, Tommy, not at you, never at you. I’m mad at _them_ for beating up my fucking brother.”

_My brother. Brother._

“Shit. I didn’t mean to say that out loud, it’s okay if you don’t want to be called that yet,” Wilbur said hastily.

Didn’t mean to say it _out loud._

Tommy tried not to let his face show how he felt. Which was safe. He felt _safe._ “Whatever, big brother.”

~~~

Techno and Tommy had been alone in the house the day Tommy told him about it. By that time, they all knew pretty much the extent of Tommy’s past. Why Tommy was always so afraid. And Tommy had found out that Techno and Wilbur had reasons to feel afraid, too. He’d found out that he finally had a family.

Tommy was curled up on the couch watching the snow fall. Wilbur liked to make fun of him for it, how he was like a little cat sometimes.

“Whatcha’ thinkin’ about?” Techno asked, closing his book.

“Things,” Tommy said quietly.

“Mmm?”

“Can I tell you something really stupid?”

“Everythin’ you say is stupid— I mean, yes, my dear brother.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, ignoring the warm feeling at being called brother so casually. He looked at his bouncing knees. He wanted to tell Techno this. He felt like he owed him this.

“I used to like… daydream about someone coming to save me, and like, keep me safe. I know, it’s so pathetic, but it was just… anyway.

“I don’t have to pretend anymore. ‘Cause I’ve got you. And Phil. and Wilbur. And when I wanna curl up and hide… I just. I know you’ll be here.”

Techno looked at him silently for a moment, and embarrassment washed over him. _Why would you tell him that? Idiot._ “I’m sorry— I know it’s childish, it’s stupid, sorry.”

Techno gestured to the space beside Tommy questioningly, and he nodded. Techno moved beside him and carefully put his arms around him. Tommy melted close. (He couldn’t help it, he couldn’t refuse a hug from his family.)

“Can I tell you something?” Techno asked quietly.

“Yeah?”

“I used to do that too.”

“You—,” Tommy tried to imagine Techno, young and small and hungry, curled up in an alley, wishing for the same things as the little blonde kid hiding from shouting in his room. He wiped at the tears gathering in his eyes and held his brother tight.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Tommy whispered. Techno laughed.

“I feel like I should be the one saying that.” He held Tommy, so close that he almost forgot what it was like to be scared. “We’ll protect each other.”

**Author's Note:**

> if u liked it n u maybe wanna leave a commente i would be v happy :D ive written a lot in the past few weeks cuz comments have been giving me motivation
> 
> (if you wanna read more stories in this au, there's more on my account!!)


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